


It's Not Love (Not Really)

by orphan_account



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: I Don't Even Know, I'm Sorry, M/M, all the way through, also a bit coffeeshop!au maybe?, thoughts and feelings and denial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur has just met Eames and gets confused about their relationship. As soon as he comes close to even thinking that he might be in love with Eames... cue the denial.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not Love (Not Really)

**Author's Note:**

> What's there to say? I was deeply in love with Inception and this ship and I just- had to write. It wasn't my fault.  
> I've started on a sequel that goes along the same lines, I guess, so that might happen at some point.  
> Okay.

Arthur is not in love with Eames - he's really not.

Of course, there are reasons as to why he has to remind himself that he really, really is _not_ in love with Eames, because there have been some serious opportunities in which he can be and he almost does become. But more to the point, he isn't.

This thing that they have, their friendship, started a little over four weeks ago. Since then, Arthur has not had a full day of complete sanity or anything even remotely close to it. Which doesn't necessarily have to be related to Eames, but it _is_ , and Arthur knows it, because everything else in his life is way too routined - yet exactly so routined it's perfectly non-crazy - to get him confused with his existence or feeling generally unstable. The only thing that isn't routined and wasn't ever planned to happen was Eames.

So, their first meeting - it wasn't like a whole thing, nothing special. This completely random guy, Eames, had moved to town and gotten a job at Arthur's favorite café. If anything, it had all been Eames' fault (whatever was wrong), because Arthur had visited that café six times a week at 11am since he got his teaching job - what is it now, five years ago? - so he had been there first. So there.

And yes, Arthur teaches - English and Latin on a university. Somewhere along his own school years he had felt it best to be spontaneous - a mistake that he has promised often since not to make again - and he had completely missed out on studying for the subjects he actually wanted to teach, Math and Science. This is also the reason that he had been reading fiction and not something actually interesting when he sat at the café that Monday, four weeks ago.

As if trying not to be seen - so that he would not disturb - Eames had brought by Arthur's coffee as silently as possible. He had looked at Arthur for a while, and then for another, and when he finally seemed to be on his way, Arthur had said, "thank you" for the coffee. As if that had been Eames' cue, he got to introducing himself and asking loads and loads of questions about Arthur and when Arthur was sat on the bus again - going back to school - he had found himself having a new phone number burning a hole in his jacket pocket.

It hadn't been very long, just a few hours, until Eames had called to just say hi. They sent a few texts and decided they would talk later that night, which they did - and the next day, and also they day after that. And so on. They talked on the phone after work and texted each other during, none of them having anything especially interesting to say, but practically dying to say it anyway.

Nothing has happened for four weeks. Just texting, calling, talking, laughing, telling each other about their days, meeting at 11 at the café. Nothing happens, only that, but still, Arthur has to strictly remind himself that he is not in love with Eames.

Because that's ridiculous. They're just friends. Also, Arthur hasn't exactly heard Eames mention being in a relationship or not, but then again, Arthur hasn't exactly asked him either. Not because he's too scared - he can ask any time he wants, but it's not interesting, right, it's none of Arthur's business if Eames has a boyfriend or girlfriend or husband-- Wow.

Just the thought of Eames being in a serious relationship that wasn't one with Arthur - Arthur has to admit it's kind of throwing him off. Again, _wow_. He _has_ to ask, right, but it would be so random and out-of-the-blue to do so. He shouldn't - it's Eames' business and maybe, if he isn't married yet, only engaged, Arthur can get to be best man. Maybe. Or maybe Eames has other friends, closer friends too that Arthur has never heard of.

* * *

 

"Hi, love, what is it?" Eames sounds stressed when he picks up and Arthur realizes more and more for every second how stupid it's been to call.

"Am I interrupting something?", he asks apologetically.

"No, it's okay, I just-- wait, let me put you on hold." Eames voice disappears for a while with a series of rumbling noises when he puts the phone down. Arthur wonders what he's doing - if he has a boyfriend there, what are they-- _no_. Eames doesn't even have a boyfriend. Right? Right. _Right_.

He doesn't - because.

Eames comes back to the phone, sounding somewhat more relaxed than earlier. "Sorry, I had an emergency trying not to lose one of my bodyparts."

After getting Arthur to laugh in confusion, he then goes on to tell the tale of how he just burned his thumb in the oven, making pie. Three hours later, Arthur hangs up the phone and with a wide smile - a sort of post-phone call smile he's adapted after meeting Eames - he lies down on his couch.

He still hasn't asked about the whole boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife thing. What were they even talking about for three hours? Arthur can barely remember anything from it, but the idea of Eames having a secret husband tucked away somewhere is getting less and less believable. Eames is flirting with him, right, isn't he, so he's not married. Or in a relationship.

Not that it matters. And not that Arthur flirts back, ever. Because Arthur isn't in love with Eames, no matter how often he has to remind himself of it. He isn't. But it's an opportunity, one of those very few, one that brings hope and all kinds of miraculous feelings into Arthur's chest. It's hard to let them go, but he has to stay realistic.

Arthur is not in love with Eames. Really not.

Because every time his phone makes a sound, Arthur does not drop everything he's doing to check if it's Eames contacting him.

Because every time it's not Eames, Arthur does not feel so disappointed he's almost hurt.

Because every time it is Eames calling or texting, Arthur does not smile and feels thousand times more than he did just seconds earlier. That's not how it works. Not how it is.

Because Arthur is not in love with Eames. So there.


End file.
